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Grady EMS’ community paramedicine program reduces mental health calls

EMS providers visit mental health patients at home accompanied by a social worker to reduce calls to 911

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The program has cut ER visits by the hundreds and saved Grady $400,000.

AP Photo/David Goldman

ATLANTA — Grady Health System started a community paramedicine program to reduce 911 calls from people with mental health issues.

Before implementing the program, Grady was receiving thousands of 911 calls from mentally ill patients, some of them calling up to 30 times a month, Gwinett Daily Post reported.

With the new program, Grady EMS providers and social workers can give people help before their situation deteriorates.

“Patients are better served,” said Michael Colman, vice president of EMS operations at Grady. “We’re being proactive rather than reactive. It’s always just little small things to help these people out.”

Colman said many of the calls they received were related to medication prescriptions and administration.

To handle patients with mental health problems, Grady teamed up with Georgia Crisis and Access Line, which provides a mental health social worker who accompanies EMS providers to their visits to determine the patient’s problem and how to deal with it.

The program has cut ER visits by the hundreds and saved Grady $400,000.